Sports

SHP sends another large group of senior athletes off to college

Sacred Heart Prep will send 22 student-athletes (20 are pictured) off to college to continue their careers. Photo courtesy of SHP Athletics.

For fourth time in the past six years, Sacred Heart Prep will send 20 or more student-athletes to play at the intercollegiate level. The Class of 2015 boasts 22 headed to the collegiate ranks, marking the ninth consecutive year the graduating class has sent 12 or more.

"We are thrilled for the opportunities ahead of these terrific student-athletes, who have artfully balanced academics and athletics during their time at Sacred Heart Prep," said SHP Athletics Director Frank Rodriguez.

SHP students will be attending colleges across the country, playing 11 different sports ranging from NCAA Division I to III.

The four-time reigning CCS Division III boys' water polo team is sending the largest contingent to six different institutions. Will Conner will join reigning national champion UCLA in the fall, becoming rivals with former teammate Nelson Perla-Ward, who is headed to nearby Stanford. Similarly, Grant Harvey and Michael Swart are East Coast-bound to join longstanding rivals Harvard and Princeton, respectively. Traveling to Southern California to join the SCIAC conference are Eshan Govil at Caltech and Michael Schurr at Pitzer College.

After helping guide the Gator football program to new heights, including the CCS Open Division title this past fall, three student-athletes will be playing at the next level. Ben Burr-Kirven will join the Pac-12's Washington, while teammates Matt Odell and Andrew Robinson are Lewis and Clark and Dartmouth-bound, respectively.

Four Prep teams will see teammates represent Sacred Heart at eight different colleges spanning both coasts. Baseball players Kyle Johnson and Cole March will play at Lafayette and UC Davis, respectively; while Corbin Koch heads to Pomona and James McLean joins 2014-15 Ivy League champion Harvard in men's basketball.

Derek Ackerman and Mister Keller will remain in Northern California, as the boys' golfers are matriculating to Santa Clara and UC Davis, respectively. Volleyball players Victoria Garrick and Ara Peterson are bound for opposite sides of the country, with Garrick headed to USC and Peterson to Columbia.